Selector switch



July 28, 1942. R. L. WOLFF 2,291,517

SELECTOR SWITCH Original Filed Sept. 1, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR D Rosa/Pu. .WOZFF. 157 .5, BYWQMmQ AT TORNEX.

July 28, 1942. R. 1.. WC DLFF SELECTOR SWITCH Original Filed Sept. 1, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Razz/W1. W041 ATTORNEY.

Patented July 28, 1942 SELECTOR swrrcn' Robert L. Wolfl, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to Globe-Union Inc., Milwaukee, '15., a corporation of Delaware Original application September 1, 1939, Serial No.

293,015. Divided and this application Febru- 17.1941. SeriahNo. 379,221:v (c1. zoo- 's) 3 Claims.

This invention relates to an improvement in selector switches for use in radio broadcasting and receiving, public address and call systems, in test instruments, and for varied and diverse industrial uses.

The present application is a division of my application for Selector switches filed September 1, 1939, Serial No. 293,015.

The switch may be employed in the control panels for commercial and amateur transmitters, in the band-changing, selectivity, sensitivity or tone control of radio receivers, in centralized sound intercommunicator or call systems, in signal generators, analyzers, tube testers, and multi -meter instruments, and in electronic apparatus, signaling devices, business machines, and the like.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide a simple, compact, and closely organized switch structure of this character, which may be mounted singly or in groups on a control panel, and which is reliable and eflective in operation, lending itself to easy and convenient manipulation.

The switch is so organized that it is adapted to a wide range of indexing, and in the constructions which form the subject matter of this application the switch is embodied in a two-position spring-returned switch wherein the switch lever, upon being released after having been swung to one side of center, is automatically returned to its center position, or it is embodied in a three-position spring-returned switch, that is, one wherein the switch lever may be swung to either side of center and is automatically returned to center from either side.

Another object of the invention is to provide aswitch which has the capability of effectively employing a suflicient number of contacts to render available a great many shorting or nonshorting sequences.

Other objects and advantages reside in certain novel features of the construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, which will be hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which:

Figure 1 is a view in cross section taken on line I| of Figure 8 and looking in the direction of the arrows and omitting the control panel on which the switch is mounted;

Figures 2 and 3 are views similar to Figure 1 but showing different positions of the switch parts;-

, Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 8, looking in the direction of the arrows and also omitting the control panel on which the switch is mounted;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4, but showing the other position of the switch parts;

Figure 6 is a view in end elevation looking toward the opposite side of the switch from that viewed in Figure 4;

Figure 7 is a view in top plan of the switch shown in Figure 4 with a portion of the mounting bracket and associated part broken away and shown in section for the sake of illustration;

Figure 8'is a fragmentary view in front elevation illustrating how the switches are mounted on a control panel;

Figure 9 is a fragmentary view taken on line 99 of Figure 5 and showing how the fixed supporting shaft is secured to the mounting bracket and the way in which the rotatable bearing sleeve is mounted thereon and is combined with the switch rotor and its operating lever;

Figure 10 is a detail view in elevation of the operating lever employed in each switch unit; and

Figure 11 is a similar detail view of the hanger bracket plate incorporated in the mounting bracket of each switch unit.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to Figures 7 and 8, the numeral I designates a control panel which ma be mounted on any suitable support. The switches, embodying the present invention and forming the subject matter of the present application, are shown as being two in number, and are designated generally at 4 and 5, respectively. These switches are in many important features identical in construction, and differ only in the provisions made for variation in the number of indexing movements, and also in the number of cooperable contacts incorporated in each switch.

Each of the switches includes a mounting bracket, designated generally at H]. Each bracket H] has a front plate II and an integral side plate l2 extending rearwardly from the front plate II and disposed at right angles thereto. The mounting bracket is completed by a hanger bracket plate I3, shaped as shown in Figure 11 and having attaching lugs I4 integral therewith and riveted or otherwise suitably fixed to the front plate of the bracket in spaced parallel relation to the other side plate l2 thereof. The front plate of each mountingbracket is provided with an elongated, vertical slot ll, which, when the switch is mounted on its panel, registers with a similar slot provided therefor in the panel.

Each switch includes a stator l6 constituted of a U-shaped piece of insulating material, such as Bakelite," the. legs of the stator overlapping the side plate l2 and being secured thereto by eyelets It, or the like. In the present instance the apertured enlargements on opposed portions of the legs of the stator do not perform any useful purpose. They actually appear on devices manufactured for the reason that the switch is made up from material also employed for manufacturing an all-wave band switch for which an application for patent was filed September 20, 1939, Ser. No. 295,707, by John S. Coldwell, for Switches, said application and the present case being owned by the same assignee. The stator it carries fixed contacts ll of the switch which will vary in number depending upon the nature of the circuit to be controlled. A rotor II also made of insulating material is rotatably mounted within the confines of the stator and carries the movable contacts I! of the switch. The contacts H are double-wipe contacts and straddle the movable contacts I 9 of the rotor.

In each switch embodying the present, invention a supporting shaft 20 is provided, and has reduced ends extending through openings provided therefor in an extension l2 of the side plate l2, and in the central portion of the plate l3. (See Figures 7 and 9.) The ends of the shaft 20 are riveted or upset over into secure engagement with the margins in the openings in its supporting parts. A hearing sleeve 2| is rotatably mounted on each shaft 20. Both ends of this bearing sleeve are notched or slotted to adapt the ends to be staked or fastened to the rotor l8 and to a switch-operating lever, designated generally at 22. The lever 22, which is shaped as shown in Figure 6, has a tang 22, which projects through the vertical slot in the mounting bracket Ill, and through the registering slot in the control panel I. A knob 24 is secured to the portion of each tang 22 which is disposed exteriorly of the panel I. In order that these slots I! may be closed in all positions of the switch lever, the lever 22 is formed with arcuate wings or extensions 25 which rotate in the slots when the lever is swung, and which afford a closure for the slots in all positions of the switch.

It will be understood from the foregoing that the rotor l8 and switch lever 22, being fixed to the opposite ends of the same sleeve, are rotatively coupled together so that when any lever 22 is turned the rotor it of its switch will also be turned.

The switches forming the subject matter of the present application are spring returned to center from either or both sides so as to render available a spring returned switch in either a two-position or a three-position type. As it will be understood from my application for Selector switches," Serial No. 293,015, the features heretofore described may also be embodied in a positively indexed switch, and usually the switches are originally constructed so as to be convertible into either a positively indexed or spring returned switch. It is for this reason that the detent 22 appears in Figures 7 and 9 although actually it has no function in switch units of the type claimed in this case.

Figures 1 to 3, inclusive, of the drawings illustrate a three-position spring returned switch.

To adapt the switch for this type of action a return spring. designated generally at 42, is provided. The spring 44 has several coils 44' which surround the end portion of the shaft 2| (see Figure 9) in between the lever 22 and the hanger bracket plate l2, and also has diverging spring arms 41 and 42 provided with outturned ends 42 and 44 which are engaged in and tensioned by the crotches presented or defined between the main portion of the hanger bracket plate I! and its attaching lugs l4. This arrangement disposes the spring arms 4| and 42 in a plane parallel and adjacent to the switch lever 22. The switch lever 22 has integrally formed therewith a pair of bendable spring-engaging fingers 4| and 42, either one or both of which may be bent to extend laterally from-the plane of the lever 22 and towards and into engagement with spring arms 4| and 42. In the switch unit shown in Figures 1 to 3, both lugs 48 and 48 are bent laterally from the plane of their lever 22 so as to engage the spring arms 42 and 41. respectively.

As illustrated in Figure 10, the levers 22 as manufactured also have bendable detent lugs II and 32 to adapt the switch for conversion to a positively indexed switch as fully described and claimed in my application hereinabove referred to, but in the switch unit forming the subject matter of this case the lugs 2| and 22 are left in the plane of the lever 22 and hence perform no useful function in the present switch units.

By having two spring-engaging fingers II and 46, and bending both in the plane of the levers described, the switch lever is biased and releasably maintained in the central position shown in Figure 1, but may be swung in either direction away from a central position. However. after being swung away from center, the switch lever will be automatically returned to center position when the lever is released. In this connection it will be understood that when the switch lever 22 is swung ineither direction away from a central position, one of the fingers 4S and 4! will engage one of the spring arms 42 or 4| and will move against its spring action, as will be understood from a comparison of Figures 1, 2 and 3. Release of the grip on the control knob 24 of the lever 22 will result in the spring arm engaged by the spring finger immediately returning the switch to central position. In the central position the action of the spring arms 4| and 42 are restrained by their engagement with the crotches of the hanger bracket plate II, but they are then effective to releasably maintain the switch lever 22 in this mid-way position.

The switch 5 is a two-position spring return type of switch. In the switch I the spring 42 is employed, but only one spring-engaging finger, namely finger 45, is provided or so disposed as to actively function, the other finger 46 being bent into the plane of the lever or being cut off. In order to stop the lever 22 of the switch 5 in its mid position one of its wings is formed with a stop shoulder I0 which is engageable with the control panel to provide the desired stop action. Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the action of the switch I.

While I have shown and described several constructions in which the invention may be advantageously embodied, it is to be understood that the constructions shown have been selected mereLv for the purpose of illustration or example, and that various changes in the size, shape, and arrangement of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. A selector switch of the character described comprising a mounting bracket having spaced side plates, shoulders formed on one of said plates, a stator of insulating material engaged with and fixed to one of said side plates of the bracket, a disc-like rotor of insulating material disposed within the confines of the stator and rotatable with respect thereto, cooperable contacts carried by the rotor and the stator, a supporting shaft extending between and fixedly supported by said side plates, a bearing sleeve mounted on the shaft and having one end fixedly interconnected with the rotor, an operating lever fixed to the other end of said sleeve, a spring having a coiled portion surrounding said shaft between said lever and the adjacent side plate, said spring having diverging spring arms provided with outturned ends engaged with and tensioned by said shoulders, and spring-engaging fingers on said lever cooperable with said spring arms whereby the spring is effective to return the lever and consequently the rotor to its original position after it has been manually swung in either direction.

2 A selector switch of the character described comprising a mounting bracket including a front plate and a side plate extending rearwardly therefrom, a stator of insulating material fixed to said side plate, a rotor of insulating material cooperatively interrelated with the stator, switch contacts carried by the rotor and stator, an operating lever for said rotor, a shaft rigidly secured to said side plate, a bearing sleeve mounted on said shaft, said rotor and said lever being secured to said sleeve, a spring having a coiled portion supported on said shaft, a bracket plate having abutments engaging and tensioning said spring, said bracket being secured to said shaft, and a spring-engaging finger on said lever and engageable with said spring to tension it further when the lever is swung in one direction Whereby said spring is effective to return the lever to its original position on release of the lever after it has been manually swung away from its original position.

3. A selector switch of the character described comprising a mounting bracket including a front plate and a side plate extending rearwardly therefrom, a stator of insulating material fixed to said side plate, a rotor of insulating material cooperatively interrelated with the stator, switch contacts carried by the rotor and stator, an operating lever for said rotor, a shaft rigidly secured to said side plate, a bearing sleeve mounted. on said shaft, said rotor and said lever being secured to said sleeve, a spring having a coiled portion supported on said shaft, a bracket plate having abutments engaging and tensioning said spring, a spring detent carried by said shaft, said bracket being secured to said shaft to hold said shaft and to secure said spring detent in place, a spring-engaging finger on said lever and engageable with said spring to tension it further when the lever is swung in one direction whereby said spring is effective to return the lever to its original position on release of the lever after it has been manually swung away from its original position and a lug carried by said lever and cooperable with said spring detent to index said lever and rotor.

ROBERT L. WOLFF. 

